Hollyoaks' Mandy Richardson will be left "shocked" when she finds out she is pregnant.

Sarah Jayne Dunn

Sarah Jayne Dunn

Mandy - who is played by Sarah Jayne Dunn - will worry her boyfriend Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) might "freak out" when she delivers the unexpected news that she is expecting.

Sarah said: "She's very shocked as it comes as quite a surprise! She's also a bit unsure about how Darren will react at first, and is not sure if the timing is right.

"She's feeling a little off and under the weather, so she takes a pregnancy test just to be sure. Not expecting it to be positive!

"They've talked about having a baby together, but this wasn't planned for right now. I think she's worried he'll freak out and not want the baby."

Mandy and Darren recently moved in together after their lengthy affair was exposed, but she doesn't realise he regrets cheating on Nancy Osborne (Jess Fox), who he has started fooling around with.

Her husband Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy) is currently in prison, but he will return to her life in the coming weeks to add further issues.

Sarah added: "Luke comes into her life again and she has to come to terms with her new situation, along with some unexpected problems."

The 37-year-old actress recently admitted she and co-star Jennifer Metcalfe felt nervous about returning to the soap after they gave birth in real life.

She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "Me and Rachel [Adedeji, Lisa Loveday] had messages when she had Lillian, she's a bit younger than my little boy Stanley.

"And same with Jen, she had hesitations about coming back to work and we chatted. It's nice having that support and kind of going, 'Actually, I felt nervous, and I didn't know how I was going to cope.'

"I think every new mum feels like that. It's nice to pass on that reassurance and knowledge. This is what we all go through.

"We all have that fear of going, 'Am I being selfish? Should I feel guilty?' It's totally natural.

"It's good to have other people to talk to and social media users to go, 'That's the reality of it, don't feel ashamed of feeling like that.' "